At a public meeting during Mriganka Singh’s election campaign, held in the village of Dakheda in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district, on 19 May, Surjan Singh, a BJP leader from the village, addressed the gathering of over 200 people. “Ab humare Hindu bhai aur sabhi log surakshit hain.” (Now our Hindu brothers and all others are safe.) Mriganka is the BJP candidate in the upcoming bypoll, on 28 May, for the Kairana seat in the Lok Sabha, which fell vacant after Hukum Singh, her father and the former member of parliament from the constituency, died in February this year. Surjan continued, “Sarkar Muzaffarnagar dango ke sabhi galat mukadme wapis le rahi hai.” (The government is withdrawing the false cases of the Muzaffarnagar riots.) “Ab Hindu nahi, gunde yahan se palayan kar rahe hain, aur jo nahi jaa rahe unko Yogi ji golion se bhoon kar upar bhej rahe hain” (Now, instead of Hindus, the goons are leaving Kairana, and Yogi is showering bullets to kill those who are not leaving.)
A seven-time member of the legislative assembly, Hukum—popularly known in the area as “Babuji”—had a controversial record as a legislator. In 2013, he was named in acase arising out of the Muzzaffarnagar riots, on allegations of inciting communal violence through provocative speeches. In June 2016, one year before state elections, Hukum stirred communal tensions in Kairana by releasing a list of 346 members of Hindu families who had allegedly fled the town. He claimed that they had leftbecause they feared the Muslim residents who resettled in Kairana after the Muzzaffarnagar riots.Though the claims were debunked by several subsequent investigative reports—which revealed that the allegations were exaggerated and that many residents, including Muslims, had migrated from the town due to economic pressures—Mriganka’s campaign is echoing a similar communal rhetoric.
Residents of the Dakheda village, situated around 25 kilometres from Kairana town , are predominantly from the Thakur, Banjara, and Jaat communities. Dozens of BJP flags lined the boundary walls of the village pradhan, Kuldeep Singh's house. Mriganka arrived at Dakhedain the afternoon along with aconvoy of over 10 SUVs and throngs of supporters. As she greeted the residents of the village, chants of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Babuji Amar Rahein” broke out. Shortly after, Mriganka and her supporters headed towards the nearby community building, where the public meeting was to be held.
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